Teaching Italian as L2 for immigrants

Emilio PorcaroCTP «Besta» - Bologna

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Where?• Centri Territoriali Permanenti per l’Istruzione e la

formazione in età adulta (CTP) – Territorial Permanent Centre for adults Education and Training

• State organizations under the authority of Ministry of Education (MIUR)

• Formal and institutional learning• 542 centres in Italy• 39 centres in Emilia Romagna• 8 centres in Bologna Province

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What do they do?

• Courses to get “licenza media”, final diploma of first education level

• Linguistic and social integration courses for foreigners (Italian as L2)

• Basic operational courses (computer, foreign languages etc.)

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Who teaches?

• State teachers, under the authority of Ministry of Education

• Teachers directly employed by CTP for short courses

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CTP users

• Academic year 2009-2010 = 134.410 foreign attendees (national figure)

• 20.359 in Emilia-Romagna region

Source MIUR

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Courses organization

• Level groups• Reference standard is Common European

Framework Reference for Languages (CEFR)• About 60% of participants is at A1, A2, B1

levels• There is also a great number of participants at

pre-A1 level, mainly foreigners either with lower education level or completely illiterate in their country of origin

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Critical points:

• In Italy is missing a law ruling teaching Italian as L2, neither in public nor in private sector

• There isn’t a specific qualification/certification for teachers of Italian as L2, while there is for subjects as Maths, History, Physics etc.

• There are qualified and up-to-dated teachers as well teachers with a lower qualification and not up-to-dated

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Adult Education reform

• Adult Education reform is at State level• Change from CTP (542) to CPIA (150)• CPIA: Centri Provinciali per l’Istruzione degli

Adulti – Provincial Centres for Adult Education• advantages: more authonomy• disadvantages: resources cut (e.g. Italian

language courses for foreigners will be reduced up to a maximum of 200 hours)

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Solutions

• To maintain a good level of service it’s important to create links and networks with other organizations , especially with private associations and volounteers organizations

• Working together in an effective way means to set down shared agreements and standards

• Several Regions, Emilia-Romagna among them, are working to reach this result

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New elements

Mainly two new elements: 1)Foreigners have to know Italian language if they ask for a long period residence permit 2)New entry foreigners asking for residence permit have to know Italian language

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Italian Language knowledge test

• Since 9th December 2010 all foreigners asking for “long period residence permit” must pass a test to prove their knowledge of Italian language at CEFR level A2

• Test is done at CTP venues

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• Long term residence permit can be obtained by immigrants regularly resident in itali since five years; they have to demonstrate to have a regular employment contract and a house (either as owner or rented)

• This permit is permanent and allows to have several services and rights (e.g. It allows to enter in Italy without visa; to be employed; to participate to public activities; to attend courses; to use the services provided by public administration

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How does the test work?

• Test to assess knowledge of Italian language at CEFR level A2

• Test is made of three parts:1)listening comprehension2)written comprehension3)written interaction

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Who and how many pass the test?

• The test is point based (from 0 to 100, the minimum for passing is 80 points)

• In Emilia-Romagna about 10% of people fail to pass (about 13% at a national level)

• Mainly because they don’t know Italian

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What can we do?

• To strengthen the network with associations• To identify the people with lower Italian

knowledge and convince them to learn Italian• There are also people living in italy since ten

years that have never attended a language course

• Test helps to bring out these situations

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Integration agreement

• The integration agreement is related to foreigners new entry in Italy

• The agreement is not a law yet• It foresees a complicated two years point

system (the foreigner has to get at least 30 points in two years

• If in two years the person doesn’t get 30 points he/she loses the residence permit

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• The agreement foresees the knowledge of italian at A2 level (oral comprehension)

• It also foresees a basic knowledge of some simple citizenship elements (e.g. State, basic rights, local administration, health system, etc.)

• It also states that 30 points can be acquired attending Italian language courses for foreigners at CTP (or also passing the first education level exam)

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Positive element:•The foreigner attends the courses and learn Italian in a formal context

Negative elements:•Learning is strictly related to a bureaucratic act•To learn the language is simply an obligation, a requirement to have the permit

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An outlook

• To valorize the qualified teachers

• To create networks between formal (CTP) and non-formal systems (volounteers, associations etc.)

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Final Seminar27th October 2011

Bologna, ItalyProject number 1 43337-LLP-1 -2008-1 – DE -KA2-KA2NW